1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a product management apparatus, a historical information recording device and a product provided with such a device, more particularly relates to a historical information recording device capable of electrically performing historical management, for example, from the manufacture of the product to its disposal, a product provided with the same, a historical information recording device having a function of switching to a transmission mode suitable for a case of broadcasting the location of a product or a function of preventing tampering etc. of the historical information, and product provided with the same, still more particularly relates to a historical information recording and/or reproduction device, a product having this, and a method for discriminating historical information recorder.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, written guarantees are usually attached to audio visual equipment (AV equipment) and other products.
These written guarantees are generally made of paper and contain information relating to the product such as a model number of the product and the product serial no. and information relating to the sale such as the name of the store and the date of sale.
The general practice is to offer the service of free repair of the product based on the information in the written guarantee when the product breaks down in a predetermined guarantee period of for example one year from the date of sale of the product.
However, it is necessary for the user to store the written guarantee separately from the product. For this reason, if he or she loses the written guarantee, he or she sometimes is not eligible for the free repair when the product breaks down.
Further, since the written guarantee is made of paper or the like, depending on how it is stored, for example the surface of the guarantee may become moldy due to moisture or may become dirty so that the information sometimes no longer can be discriminated.
On the other hand, the information relating to the product of the written guarantee is indicated in advance on the manufacturer""s side by printing or the like before shipment, but the information relating to the sale is described by the store stamping the store name and writing in the date of sale. When the product is for example a gift or a prize in a contest or when the store deliberately does not write in the date of sale, the starting date of the guarantee period cannot be identified.
For this reason, the manufacturer or a business which undertakes repair sometimes must perform the repair upon request by the user irrespective of the fact that the guarantee period has actually passed, so they sometimes suffer a loss by performing the repair free even though the repair originally should have been charged. Further, if the date of sale cannot be identified, it becomes impossible to correctly determine the service life and frequency of breakdown of the related product and parts thereof and otherwise statistically manage products after sale.
Further, it becomes possible to additionally record information other than the product information of the written guarantee and the sale information, for example, the date of arrival at a wholesaler in the distribution process, the date of shipment out from it, the name of the wholesaler, and other historical information of the distribution process, the date of repair when a product breaks down, the details of the repair, the person in charge of the repair, and other historical information of repair, and other historical information relating to the individual product. Such historical information has never before been recorded for individual products.
An object of the present invention is to provide a historical information recording device capable of reliably managing the historical information relating to a product and a product provided with such a device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a historical information recording device capable of handling not only recording of data relating to the manufacture, sale, and repair of a product, but also a broader range of applications and a product provided with such a device.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a historical information recording device capable of enhancing the reliability of stored information, for example, able to prevent tampering of once stored historical information, and a product provided with such a device.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a historical information recording and/or reproduction device capable of reliably recording and/or reproducing historical information relating to a product, a product provided with such a device, and a method for discriminating a historical information recorder reliably managing historical information relating to the product.
To achieve the above objects, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is a product management apparatus comprising: a main unit attached to a product and having an input unit inputting historical information of the product, a recording means for recording the input historical information, and a transmitting means for transmitting the recorded historical information; and an outside unit having a receiving means for receiving the historical information transmitted by the transmitting means.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product provided with a historical information recording device comprising: a main unit comprising an input unit for inputting the historical information, a recording means for recording the input historical information, and a transmitting means for transmitting the recorded historical information; said main unit communicates the historical information with an outside remote controller.
According to the above configuration, since the main unit has the input unit for inputting the historical information and the recording means for recording this input historical information, it can clearly record individual historical information of products. Further, since this recorded historical information is transmitted to the outside unit via the transmitting means of the main unit, the historical information can be correctly confirmed by using this outside unit.
Further, in a product provided with such a historical information recording device, since the historical information is provided in the product, the historical information can be managed for individual products.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product management apparatus comprising: a main unit having an input means for inputting historical information, a password imparting means for giving a password for at least part of the input historical information, a recording means for recording the historical information, and a transmitting means for transmitting the recorded historical information; and an outside unit having a receiving means for receiving the historical information transmitted from the transmitting means, a password comparing means for comparing the password given to the transmitted historical information, and a password inputting means for inputting a password to the password comparing means.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product provided with a historical information recording device comprising: a main unit comprising an input means for inputting historical information, a password imparting means for giving a password for at least part of the input historical information, a recording means for recording the historical information, and a transmitting means for transmitting the recorded historical information; and said main unit communicates with an outside remote controller said outside unit comprising: a receiving means for receiving the historical information transmitted from the transmitting means, a password comparing means for comparing the password given to the transmitted historical information, and a password inputting means for inputting a password to the password comparing means.
According to the above configuration, since the historical information recording device has the password imparting means, password comparing means, and password inputting means, it can record at least part of the historical information as protected information. Further, since this protected information is disclosed for the first time by the input of a specific password at the outside unit, the content of the protected information cannot be learned by a third party who does not know the specific password.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product management apparatus comprising a historical information recording device in a product for storing product historical information relating to the manufacture, physical distribution, sale, registration, repair, and disposal of the product and transmitting the information in response to a signal input from the outside, having a plurality of modes of transmission of the product historical information and comprising a mode switcher for switching the transmission mode based on the input signal.
Preferably, the mode switcher selects a first transmission mode at the time of usual use and switches the transmission mode from the first transmission mode to a second transmission mode based on the input signal.
Preferably, when using a radio wave as the carrier medium for the product historical information, the second transmission mode includes a transmission mode where the output, frequency, method of signal modulation, or transmission time of a carrier wave differs from that of the first transmission mode.
More preferably, the second transmission mode includes a transmission mode of the product historical information and a signal indicating information broadcasting the location of the product.
In this historical information recording device, it is possible to transmit a predetermined broadcast signal in response to an input broadcast request signal without relation to the transmission of the product historical information.
In the historical information recording device according to this configuration, if for example the input signal from the predetermined terminal is made to include specific signals such as a mode switching signal and broadcast request signal, the mode switcher switches the transmission mode of the historical information recording device from the first transmission mode at the time of normal use to the second transmission mode based on the specific signals. Accordingly, the subsequently transmitted signals are, for example, different in the output or frequency of the carrier wave or the method of signal modulation, transmission time, etc. from those at the time of normal use.
When the second transmission mode is made the so-called long distance transmission mode, the output of the carrier wave is made high or the frequency and the method of modulation of the transmission signal are changed so that the signal easily arrives over a long distance. Further, the transmission time of the signal becomes longer.
In addition, when the second transmission mode is made a broadcast mode, a broadcast signal indicating the location of the product is automatically added to the product historical information or solely transmitted. Here, the broadcast signal is a signal for widely broadcasting a specific message in the same way as the Morse code xe2x80x9cSOSxe2x80x9d being generally recognized as meaning a request for help.
By utilizing such a transmission mode changing function, this historical information recording device can be used for investigation of stolen goods, investigations of crimes, searches at the time of disasters, etc. For example, a stolen car will retain the content of the electrically recorded guarantee and a chassis registration number as they are even if the license plate is changed, so if this recorded data is read out at for example highway toll gate, it becomes easy to discover stolen cars and to help arrest criminals. Further, in the case of someone becoming lost or injured in the mountains, it would be possible to search for the historical information recording device provided in the backpack or radio by radio waves or the like and focus in on the area of response to find the party faster.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product provided with a historical information recording device for storing product historical information relating to manufacture, physical distribution, sale, registration, repair, and disposal and transmitting the information in response to a signal input from the outside, wherein said historical information recording device has a plurality of transmission modes and comprises a mode switcher for switching the transmission modes based on said input signal.
The product preferably has a product controller and the historical information recording device has a means for outputting to the product controller a startup signal for starting up a predetermined means in the product able to broadcast the location of the product when a broadcast request signal is included in the input signal. The mode switcher may also serve as the means.
This product has a high degree of safety against theft and loss due to the switching function of the transmission modes of the historical information recording device. Further, as examples of activating a means inside the product, it is possible to make the headlights of the automobile flash and make the horn sound continuously by remote control. Due to this, it is possible to broadcast the location of the product and also broadcast that there is trouble to the surroundings and thereby encourage quick rescue from the surroundings.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product management apparatus comprising: a historical information recording device in a product and the historical information recording device having a storage unit for storing product historical information relating to the manufacture, physical distribution, sale, registration, repair, and disposal of the product, further having a historical information tamper prevention unit for prohibiting a rewrite of the information stored in the storage unit under predetermined conditions to prevent tampering of the product historical information.
As a condition for prohibiting a rewrite by this historical information tamper prevention unit, for example it is possible to require that the password be different from the legitimate one; that the rewrite be after a predetermined number of rewrites; that the rewrite be tried after a predetermined number of rewrites; that the identification code of the terminal which emits the rewrite request be different from the identification code of the terminal at the initial time of writing first storing the product historical information; or that the write operation be requested after the elapse of a predetermined time from the first write operation.
The actual write prohibit operation may for example be to prohibit access to mode switching so as not to enter the write mode for rewriting or prohibit access for an address at which the product historical information has already been stored in the storage unit.
Further, it is possible to provide a rewrite history storage controller for discriminating and storing the rewrite historical information relating to the rewrites of the storage unit from the input signal so as to facilitate discovery of improprieties from the rewrite history.
According to a eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product management apparatus comprising a historical information recording device in a product and said historical information recording device having: a storage unit for storing product historical information relating to the manufacture, physical distribution, sale, registration, repair, and disposal of the product, and a historical information destruction prevention unit for adding a predetermined limit on the read operations from the storage unit to prevent destruction of the product historical information by a read disturbance.
The historical information destruction prevention unit may limit the number of read operations or extend the time required for read operations from the storage unit after the predetermined number of read operations when the storage unit is comprised of a nonvolatile memory device.
With these recording devices of historical information, it is possible to limit the rewrites or read operations of the storage unit under the above conditions and there by effectively prevent tampering with or destruction of the product historical information.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product provided with a historical information recording device for storing in a storage unit product historical information relating to manufacturer, physical distribution, sale, registration, repair, and disposal, wherein said historical information recording device has a historical information tamper prevention unit for prohibiting rewrites of information stored in the storage unit under predetermined conditions to prevent tampering of the product historical information.
Preferably, the product has a product controller and the historical information recording device outputs a function stopping signal for stopping a predetermined function of the product to the product controller when the product historical information has been tampered with.
According to a 10th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product provided with a historical information recording device for storing in a storage unit product historical information relating to manufacture, physical distribution, sale, registration, repair, and disposal, wherein said historical information recording device has a historical information destruction prevention unit for adding a limit to the read operations from the storage unit to prevent destruction of the product historical information due to read disturbances.
With these recording devices of historical information, since tampering and destruction are prevented, the product becomes high in reliability of the product historical information. Particularly, if there is tampering, the product itself stops functioning, so the value of the product falls at that pointxe2x80x94which also helps keep down acts of tampering.
According to a 11th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product provided with a historical information recording and/or reproducing device for recording and/or reproducing historical information to and from a specific historical information recorder in which specific historical information should be held, wherein the historical information recording and/or reproducing device comprises a discriminator for discriminating whether or not the recorder is the specific historical information recorder.
According to an 12th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a historical information recording and/or reproducing device for recording and/or reproducing specific historical information to and from a specific historical information recorder in which specific historical information should be held, comprising a discriminator for discriminating whether or not a recorder is the specific historical information recorder.
According to a 13th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of discriminating a historical information recording device, comprising the steps of: sending an inquiry signal from a historical information recording and/or reproducing device for recording and/or reproducing historical information to a historical information recorder in which the historical information should be held, sending a response signal in response to the sent inquiry signal from the historical information recorder to the historical information recording and/or reproducing device, and discriminating the historical information recorder by discriminating the response signal in a discriminator of the historical information recording and/or reproducing device.
According to the above configuration, since the historical information recording and/or reproduction device is provided with the discriminator for discriminating whether or not a recorder is the specific historical information recorder which should be covered, it is possible to identify the specific historical information recorder to be covered from among a plurality of historical information recorders.